Written by Mark MacNamara. Originally: "Dialog With Stone," a traveler's digression begun in 2004, with entries From Africa, Europe and North America. Now: a ramble-jam through the countryside of American culture, high and low, real and imagined.

Aug 16, 2015

"Is there any better coastal view than from Pfeiffer Pt.? asked the local Gatsby, a wannabe Gatsby. But then he shook his head. "But this is the problem; it's being discovered."You see that road to the beach down there. Well it's now filled with people making their way to Peiffer Beach. So many are dark skinned. They seem to be more South Asian lately, from places like Fremont and Concord. But that's not all. Did you hear about the two Chinese people run over on Route 1. They were walking right down the middle of the road taking photographs, oblivious to the traffic. I don't know what the were thinking."

Jay G shook his head and smack his lips. "I'll tell you what's next: last week two Norteno gang members from Salinas robbed a golfer at Torry Pines, in Monterey. They took the man's $1,000 golf club. It's a miracle he wasn't killed. And what were they going to do with that? Sell it. But you see it's all turning out just as Trump says. It's the refugees. The world is awash with people who aren't happy with their life somewhere else, and now they want to come here. But America can't take all the people in the world. And anyway many were very successful where they were. Now they want more. The foreigners always want more. But then they don't want to work for it. People in other countries, in other cultures, they're all just greedy. What other word explains it? But we know how to handle this. I've ordered two trained Malinois. Combat dogs. They're the best. We're we're looking into barbed wire. The caretaker has an automatic rifle. 'Sure, you can keep that here,' I said. We're all buttoning down. A package of food to last 10 years is arriving next week. We've got a six-month supply of Kremlin Vodka from Costco. My wife is furious that we'll have to forego the kitchen remodel, but we just can't trust anybody now."